


Shifting Gears

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Post-Canon, Racing, Reconciliation, Snorkels, Threatened Character Death, Yuletide, Yuletide 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 19:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the reset, everyone has to get used to a new world order. Taffyta has a little more trouble than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shifting Gears

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pedanther](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pedanther/gifts).



> Thanks so much to my beta and hand-holder, Woggy!

Taffyta froze as the burst of memories rushed into her. If Vanellope was their leader, then she had just spent the last fifteen years... she was in _so much_ trouble! "I remember; she's our princess!" she whispered to the others. Better to apologize quickly; maybe that would help. Hastily Taffyta stepped forward. "We are so sorry about the way we treated you!"

The entire scene dissolved into a blur as the others protested their involvement, and Vanellope threatened to execute them, and Taffyta began to hyperventilate. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but soon the outsiders were gone, most of the Candy Fans were in their correct boxes, and the first Quarter Alert was incoming.

Since the trial race had never been finished, picking the nine avatars for the day, Vanellope decreed that they would rotate, and that everyone would get to race that day. Unfortunately, despite her egalitarian decision, that day's races were all a shambles. No one was at their best, everyone was afraid to sabotage Vanellope's runs, and even Citrusella and Torvald won races, which never happened. Or at least, it hadn't in recent history.

It was hard for Taffyta to remember that there wasn't a default hierarchy anymore. Taffyta herself lost every race that she was in; her nerves were completely shot. Despite her claim to be teasing, Princess Vanellope's threat of execution still stuck in Taffyta's mind. She was sure that her pardon was only a furlough, and soon she would be punished for her behavior over the last fifteen years.

The fact that Princess - President? Taffyta wasn't sure about that either - Vanellope smirked every time she passed Taffyta didn't really help, either.

T-T

By the end of the week they were back to nightly position races, which were far more diverse than they had been recently. Some of the others were starting to enjoy their new successes and their rising prominence. Taffyta, on the other hand, rarely won, had burst into tears at least once every single day, and was well on her way to a nervous breakdown. Every time an Oreo guard passed her apartment she froze, wondering if they were finally coming for her. And the worst part was that she knew she deserved it.

Fifteen years ago, she hazily recalled, King Candy had come to her and warned her about a new glitch that had been created during a reboot. He had told her that the Glitch couldn't be allowed to race, or hang out with the others, and had sent her off. Then, recently, he had charged her with destroying the Glitch's car, or risk the entire game being shut down.

Everything else... quite honestly, everything else had been her own doing. Taffyta had liked being at the top of the pecking order, and second to King Candy, she had been the best racer in the game for all those years. The other racers looked up to her, and did what she said, and they did it because she picked on the Glitch. Because in King Candy's world, that made her good.

Now, however, she could remember the years before, when all racers were equal; there were no cliques or gangs. And while one or two might be closer friends, most racers went their own way at the end of the day, doing their own thing. Taffyta could vaguely remember liking to swim and snorkel in Chocolate Lake in her free time, but she hadn't done that in over a decade. She wasn't sure she even remembered how to swim.

Back then, any racer was as likely to win as another, and the Players simply picked the one they liked best. But under King Candy's rule, suddenly there was a hierarchy, and it had been important to Taffyta to be at the top. She won more races, and the others did her bidding, and even off the track she was important. Instead of being alone at night, she always had others following her around, asking her opinion and telling her how awesome she was. She hadn't been lonely before, that she could recall, but now the thought of being without her loyal followers was kind of terrifying.

It had been nice to be at the head of the group. And it had been nice to win so often.

And now Taffyta was all alone. Moreover, she was fairly certain that Vanellope was going to change her mind any moment now and order them all executed again. And all because that stupid Glitch that she had hunted down in her free time now turned out to be her Princess/President.

T-T

After a few weeks, things were finally settling down around Sugar Rush. Most of the citizens were less worried in the company of their restored Princess, and the races evened out slightly. The Quarter Alerts were still coming nonstop, and under that kind of pressure the racers had little choice but to get their acts together.

Everything seemed to go back to normal - not the normal of fifteen years ago, which most of them were still hazy on, nor the normal they had been living under King Candy - a new normal that everyone seemed to accept fairly readily.

But the more time that passed, the more that Taffyta began to feel uncomfortable in this reset world. She could find no enjoyment in her old pastimes, and her more recent ones - namely picking on the Glitch - were now taboo. At night, when the customers were gone, she found herself aimlessly wandering around Sugar Rush, unsure of what to do.

Under King Candy's rule, there had been a hierarchy, and Taffyta had ruled it. Was it wrong of her, after fifteen years, to still want that? Was it wrong of her to miss the way the others hung on her every word, or the fact that she won more races than anyone but the King? Was it wrong to miss the power and prestige she had carried for those long years?

Taffyta wasn't sure, but she felt that longing grow worse every day, every time one of the others beat her in a race, every time Vanellope glitched her way to victory, and every night as the others dispersed after the last race, completely ignoring her.

Since Taffyta had been the clique leader, and most of the other racers only followers, her unknowing part in King Candy's hostile takeover seemed somehow worse. And after Candlehead and Jubilee had instantly sold her out to Vanellope after the reset, Taffyta wasn't sure she could trust them as confessors. But she certainly couldn't talk about her confusion and pain to the simpler candy fans, and of course Vanellope herself was right out. So with no one to discuss them with, Taffyta tried to suppress her feelings of confusion and wrongness, but they continued to grow.

T-T

One day, however, just as before, everything suddenly changed.

Vanellope was sitting out of the last race that day, up to something in another game that Taffyta hadn't paid attention to, other than to note her fancy pink dress as she left. Somehow the reset had given her the ability to leave Sugar Rush like the others, while still retaining her ability to glitch during races.

Taffyta won the last race, and Torvald had come in last, as she always used to. Without thinking about it, Taffyta slipped back into her old ways. "Maybe you should try steering with your hands instead of your feet," she taunted as she passed the other driver.

The others laughed, as they had so many times before, and without a word, Candlehead and Rancis fell in behind Taffyta in their old positions.

"Yeah, the idea is to out-race everyone else, not out-crash them!" Rancis added.

They all laughed again, and then wandered off, the others following Taffyta all the way back to her apartment before splitting off to their own.

It was just like old times, and as she sat on her bed that night, Taffyta realized what she had been missing all this time. She _liked_ being a leader! She _liked_ having the others listen to her! She _liked_ winning the races!

Was that really so bad?

T-T

From then on, when Vanellope wasn't around, Taffyta found herself slipping more and more into the person she had been for the last fifteen years, instead of the person who was terrified of every Oreo and worried about being beheaded every few hours. It was exhilarating, and freeing, and Taffyta found it as addictive as winning.

She was so lost in this new feeling that she forgot to be discreet. After one particularly grueling race, as Taffyta and her friends stood there laughing at Citrusella - her name wasn't even a candy! Honestly! - Vanellope suddenly stepped into view.

"What did you just say, Taffyta?" she asked. The words were sugary sweet, but her eyes were ice cream cold.

Taffyta froze, just as she had before, as the memories of who Vanellope was swarmed her again. She had forgotten everything that had happened in the last year, and had messed up again.

"Um…"

"Have you been teasing people again?" Vanellope asked in that same deceptively sweet voice.

Taffyta gulped and stammered, "W-well, I-"

"She has!" Candlehead suddenly burst out, breaking ranks again. Taffyta spared a glare and a brief thought that she shouldn't have trusted the other girl again, but it had been so easy to ignore everything about the reset, including Candlehead's betrayal. "She's been picking on the lower racers for months!"

"Have you now?" Vanellope asked. "I think we need to reassess your… _punishment_."

Instantly, Winchell and Duncan were flanking Taffyta, grinning happily. Vanellope hadn't used their services as much as King Candy had, and Taffyta knew that they had become bored.

"The rest of you, go home," Vanellope declared, putting on her authoritative Princess/President voice. "I'll deal with the rest of you after tomorrow's races." The others rushed to their cars, none wanting to be the last left in her sight. With a sweeping glare from Vanellope, even the Candy Fans hurried home; apparently Taffyta's punishment wasn't going to be a spectator sport.

Silently, Taffyta followed Vanellope back to the Palace. She had half a thought to run, but the only place she could go was out of Sugar Rush. She couldn't invade another game, and she would be stuck at the Station with nowhere to go like Q*bert and the other Gameless losers. Taffyta glanced at Winchell and Duncan and they both grinned at her; she knew that they'd enjoy hunting her down. No, running wasn't an option; she would just have to take her candy medicine or execution or whatever Vanellope planned to do to her.

"I thought that we were through with this bad attitude problem of yours," Vanellope said, once she was settled on her throne, "but apparently I was wrong."

Taffyta didn't know what to say, so she kept silent. Was it bad of her to want everyone to love her? To want what she used to have?

Vanellope signed. "For now, I'm granting you one last reprieve. However, you are going to attend weekly meetings of Bad Anon, over at Pac-Man's." Vanellope said seriously. "Also, I'm assigning you to nightly therapy sessions with Dr. Wily."

"But Dr. Wily's a bad guy!" Taffyta protested.

Vanellope eyed her coldly again. "At the moment, Taffyta, so are you."


End file.
